## Add an alias

URL: https://docs.atlan.com/product/capabilities/discovery/how-tos/add-an-alias

> Add business-oriented aliases to assets to improve readability and provide context. Setup supports manual entry or AI-generated aliases when Atlan AI is enabled.

:::warning Who can do this?
 Any [non-guest user with edit access to an asset's metadata](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/requests/what-are-requests/llms.txt) can add an alias. This includes admin and member users only.

:::

Add a business-oriented alias to your assets in Atlan to provide a more descriptive, user-friendly name. You can manually create aliases or use [Atlan AI](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/atlan-ai/what-is-atlan-ai/llms.txt) to generate them automatically when enabled. Aliases improve asset discoverability and provide helpful context to your data users while keeping technical names intact.

Atlan recommends adding an alias that's unique to each asset, in a one-to-one relationship. To relate your assets, you can instead [attach tags](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/tags/attach-a-tag/llms.txt) to group them by use case or [link terms](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/glossary/link-terms-to-assets/llms.txt) to group them conceptually.

Atlan currently supports adding an alias to everything EXCEPT the following asset types:

- Database
- Schema
- Connection
- Process, including
 - ConnectionProcess
 - BIProcess
 - ColumnProcess
- Query

## Example

For an asset with a technical name like `FCT_SUPPLIER_TRANSACTIONS`, you can add `Supplier Transaction Records` as an alias. Once you have added an alias, you can:

- [Search for assets](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/search-and-discover-assets/llms.txt) either with their technical names or aliases, Atlan will match on the most relevant title.
- Use the [_Title_ property filter](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/use-the-filters-menu/llms.txt) to filter for assets either by their technical names or aliases.
- Set [asset name display preferences for personas](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/access-control/create-a-persona/llms.txt), choosing whether the technical name or alias should be displayed prominently in search and discovery.
- View aliases in [search results](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/search-and-discover-assets/llms.txt), asset preview, [asset profile](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/what-are-asset-profiles/llms.txt), [asset sidebar](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/what-are-asset-profiles/llms.txt), and [lineage graph](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/lineage/view-lineage/llms.txt).

## Add an alias

To add an alias to your asset:

1. From the left menu of any screen in Atlan, click on **all assets**.
 * If you are using the **Old UI (Classic)**, from the left menu of any screen in Atlan, click **Assets**.
2. On the _Assets_ page, click any asset with a technical name. To add an alias, you can either:
 - Open the asset profile, and to the right of the asset name, click the pencil icon.
 - Navigate to the _Overview_ sidebar, and to the right of the asset name, click the pencil icon.
3. In the _Add an alias_ dialog, you can either:
 - In the _Type a business-friendly name_ field, enter an alias for your asset.
 - If [Atlan AI is enabled](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/atlan-ai/what-is-atlan-ai/llms.txt), under _Atlan AI Suggested_, click an Atlan AI-suggested alias for your asset. (Optional) Click the refresh icon to regenerate Atlan AI suggestions and compare different sets of suggestions.
4. Click **Add** to save your preferred alias for the asset.
5. (Optional) Once you have added an alias, you can:
 - Hover over the asset name to view both the technical name and alias in a popup.
 - From the asset sidebar tabs on the right, click the **Activity** tab to view [alias activity](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/faq/llms.txt) by user and timestamp of update.
 - To edit your alias, click the pencil icon to make any changes.
 - From the [filters menu](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/use-the-filters-menu/llms.txt) on the left, click **Properties** and then click **Title** to filter assets by the technical name or alias.

Your asset will now display an alias! 🎉

You can also [set asset name display preferences](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/access-control/create-a-persona/llms.txt) to technical name or alias for your personas. If no preference has been specified and an alias is available, then Atlan will display the alias over the technical name on an asset by default.

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